Blog
Welcome to my blog posts about work, ecology, conservation…..
I am a totally Independent Ecologist and Protected Species Consultant working in the Lake District and Cumbria.
For impartial advice on all aspects of ecology and for further details please email me andrew@forktail.co.uk (I struggle to manage mobile calls in the field, so don’t be surprised if I don’t answer my mobile 07880700313.
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Sping Sandwort, Cumbria 6th November 2025 Among the delicate plants that quietly mark Britain’s industrial heritage, few are as evocative as Spring Sandwort (Sabulina verna), sometimes known as Leadwort. This unassuming, starry-flowered perennial may appear modest, but its presence on a hillside or spoil heap can tell a remarkable story, one of geology, metal, and…
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Among the many small waders that pass through Britain each autumn, few are as challenging or as rewarding to identify as the Western Sandpiper (Calidris mauri). For most birders, it is a species known best from field guides and American checklists, a bird of Alaskan tundra and Pacific beaches rather than North Sea estuaries. Yet…
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Photo of a Garden Cross Spider, Araneus diadematus in my Troutbeck garden – Andrew Chick October 2025 As the days shorten and the air begins to cool, it becomes impossible not to notice the sudden abundance of large, orb-shaped webs glistening in the morning dew. Hanging between hedges, stretched across garden paths, or suspended in…
Andrew Chick Ecology 